{"id":269760,"date":"2023-07-27T19:08:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T17:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269760"},"modified":"2023-07-27T19:09:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T17:09:01","slug":"greenlands-past-really-was-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269760","title":{"rendered":"Greenland\u2019s past really was green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Research carried out over the last several years, and most recently updated in the journal\u00a0Science<\/em>, shows conclusively that northwestern Greenland, which today is buried beneath a one-mile-thick sheet of ice, was once a flourishing tundra ecosystem that might even have hosted a boreal forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sediments extracted from deep beneath a long-abandoned, Cold War-era U.S. military base in the frigid region reveal tiny twigs and leaves that have been dated to about 416,000 years ago, a period known to scientists by the awkward name of \u201cMarine Isotope Stage 11,\u201d and a time when global temperatures were somewhat warmer than they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the fluctuations in the Earth\u2019s climate over the eons, the findings from a couple of University of Vermont researchers should not be that surprising. But in reporting on the story, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0(July 21) made sure that its readers received the \u201cproper\u201d message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe results mean that Greenland once lost a tremendous amount of ice under climate conditions very much like the ones humans have created and are currently living in,\u201d the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0wrote. \u201cThey imply that coastlines could soon be submerged under several feet of sea-level rise \u2013 unless people stop emitting greenhouse gases and reverse the dangerous warming of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prolonged warming is exactly what humans are causing, Andrew Christ, one of the researchers, told the\u00a0Post.<\/em>\u00a0His colleague, Paul Bierman, called the study\u2019s results \u201cfrightening.\u201d \u201cIf plants were growing in northwest Greenland back then \u2013 as the new\u00a0Science<\/em>\u00a0study suggests \u2013 the same could happen during a future stretch of prolonged warm conditions\u2026 And without a drastic shift in the way we live, humanity is on track to push global average temperatures to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That is well above the highest temperatures reached during Marine Isotope Stage 11,\u201d the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geologic History<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geochemist Bill Balgord, Ph. D., is not overly impressed by the study, much less the\u00a0Post\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0spin on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt does not add much substance to what was already known about the geologic history of Greenland,\u201d he told CFACT in an email. \u201cThe time period of 400,000 years BP (before the present) falls within the Pleistocene Period with its multiple, repeated continental glaciations and de-glaciations that took place from about 1 million years BP to about 10,000 years BP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hyperventilating is typical of researchers in search for more grant money. Journalists fall prey (too often wittingly) to anything they think will advance their climate change agenda,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA more recent example of a partial de-icing of Greenland occurred when the Vikings colonized (temporarily) portions of the eastern shore of Greenland, establishing dairy farms around 1,000 AD. As the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ice Age, the Norsemen were forced to pack up and sail back to Norway,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers of the\u00a0Post\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0story are supposed to believe that the warming the Earth is experiencing is being driven by the buildup of manmade greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Yet that \u2013 slight \u2013 warming got underway nearly 200 years ago and signaled a rebound from the cooling experienced in the Little Ice Age. The warming has been natural and \u2013 on balance \u2013 beneficial, because it contributed to higher atmospheric levels of CO2, which is good for all vegetation, including crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson here is an old and simple one: Don\u2019t believe everything you read in the newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonner R. Cohen, Ph. D., is a senior policy analyst with CFACT, where he focuses on natural resources, energy, property rights, and geopolitical developments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Articles by Dr. Cohen have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor\u2019s Busines Daily, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Hill, The Epoch Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald, and dozens of other newspapers around the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has been interviewed on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, NBC News, NPR, BBC, BBC Worldwide Television, N24 (German-language news network), and scores of radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has testified before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, and the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee. Dr. Cohen has addressed conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Bangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a Ph. D. \u2013 summa cum laude \u2013 from the University of Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA more recent example of a partial de-icing of Greenland occurred when the Vikings colonized (temporarily) portions of the eastern shore of Greenland, establishing dairy farms around 1,000 AD. As the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ice Age, the Norsemen were forced to pack up and sail back to Norway,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":269769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818252,691819281,691819283],"class_list":{"0":"post-269760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-greenland","9":"tag-little-ice-age","10":"tag-medieval-warm-period","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0things-to-do-in-greenland-tunulliarfik-1024x684-1.webp?fit=1024%2C684&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-18aY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":257156,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257156","url_meta":{"origin":269760,"position":0},"title":"1875 was coldest in 10,000 years, Warming A Good\u00a0Thing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"And then around 1875 we have right here the lowest point in the last 10,000 years. 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Rhetoric","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Since the early 2000s there has been no net change in the Greenland ice sheet mean annual surface temperature, as well as no net change in melt extent percentage.","rel":"","context":"In \"Greenland mass balance\"","block_context":{"text":"Greenland mass balance","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=greenland-mass-balance"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00j_Iceberg_Sail_3-3-2018_3.jpeg?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00j_Iceberg_Sail_3-3-2018_3.jpeg?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00j_Iceberg_Sail_3-3-2018_3.jpeg?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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